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West Coast Wild Flowers

Spring on the West Coast, when the veld turns orange, white and purple: a private day through Darling to the Postberg flowers in the West Coast National Park, above the Langebaan lagoon.

At a glanceOn land
How longA full dayA full day with your own driver-guide
How hardLightMostly slow driving and stopping, with short walks among the flowers
SeasonFlower season onlyOnly in the flower season, a window at the end of winter that moves with the rain

For a few weeks each year, after the winter rain, the dry scrub along the West Coast comes up in flowers. Orange and white daisies first, then purples and yellows among them, across whole hillsides at once. It does not last and it does not arrive on a date, but when it comes it changes the coast completely, and a great many people who know Cape Town well have never seen it.

The day goes north through Mamre, an old Moravian mission village of thatched cottages and a white church, and on through Darling, a farming town that holds its own flower show in the season. The road verges are often flowering before you reach the park.

The West Coast National Park wraps round the Langebaan lagoon, a long sheet of pale turquoise water inside the dunes. Its Postberg section, on the peninsula between the lagoon and the open Atlantic, is closed for most of the year and opened to visitors only while the flowers are out. That is where the display is thickest: colour running down to granite outcrops and the sea.

The flowers follow the sun. They open when it is warm and bright, turn their faces towards it, and close on a grey day, so the guide times the drive for the middle of the day and keeps the sun behind you. Antelope and zebra graze in Postberg among the flowers, and there are wading birds on the lagoon below.

Langebaan, on the lagoon’s edge, is the stop for a look at the water: kitesurfers on a windy day, flat calm and reflections on a still one. Then back south along the coast, with Table Mountain rising out of the horizon ahead of you.

In the same spring week, pair it with the Swartland, where the orchards are in blossom and the wheat is still green. Both head north, and neither repeats the other.

Good to know

  • The season is a window, not a date, and it moves with the rain. We tell you honestly whether your dates are likely to catch it.
  • Postberg opens only in the flower season. Its dates and entry are set by the park.
  • Sunny days are best. The flowers close when it is overcast.
  • Stay on the paths and pick nothing. It is a national park.
  • The West Coast wind is cold in spring even in sunshine. Bring a warm layer.

Private and on request on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in August and September only, departing between 07:45 and 08:30; Postberg's opening dates, park entry and the strength of the flowers in a given year are set by the park and the rain. We confirm what applies to your dates in writing before you pay anything.

The flowers turn their faces to the sun, so you drive with it behind you and the whole hillside looks back.

Where to do it

Where we arrange west coast wild flowers

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Questions we are actually asked

When exactly are the flowers out?
For a few weeks as winter turns to spring, and exactly which weeks depends on how much rain fell and when. It moves every year. Tell us your dates and we will say plainly whether they are likely to catch it, rather than send you out to look at scrub.
What if the day is cloudy?
The flowers close up under a grey sky and open again when the sun comes out, so a cloudy morning can turn into a good afternoon. The guide adjusts the route to the weather. The lagoon and the coast are worth the drive either way.
Is there wildlife as well?
Postberg has antelope and zebra grazing among the flowers, and the lagoon has wading birds. The odds of seeing some of them are fair, but they are wild and nothing is promised.
Can we walk among the flowers?
On the paths, yes, and there are places to stop and get out. It is a national park, so nothing is picked and nobody walks into the fields for a photograph. The flowers are the reason the gate is open at all.

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